Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2025 March 12 [2]A dark field is filled with stars and galaxies. A large spiral galaxy appears on the upper left. Toward the right, there is a smaller fuzzy patch that is a comet with a short tail. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. NGC 772: The Fiddlehead Galaxy Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Jean-François Bax & Serge Brunier, [4]OCA/C2PU; Text: Ogetay Kayali ([5]Michigan Tech U.) Explanation: Why does this galaxy look like a [6]curly vegetable? The [7]Fiddlehead spiral galaxy likely gets its distorted spiral appearance from a [8]gravitational interaction with its close-by elliptical companion [9]NGC 770, seen just below. Cataloged as NGC 772 and Arp 78, the Fiddlehead spans over 200,000 light years, is a nearby 100 million light years beyond the stars of our Milky Way galaxy, and is visible toward the [10]constellation of the Ram (Aries). But in the [11]featured image, the Fiddlehead appears to have another companion -- one with a long and fuzzy tail: [12]Comet 43P/Wolf-Harrington. Though the comet appears to be aimed straight at the massive galaxy, it is actually much closer to us, residing only [13]light minutes away -- well within our Solar System. The comet will never reach the distant spiral galaxy, nor is it [14]physically related to it. By a fortunate trick of perspective, though, these two cosmic wonders briefly share the same frame taken late last year from [15]Calern, [16]France. Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [17]< | [18]Archive | [19]Submissions | [20]Index | [21]Search | [22]Calendar | [23]RSS | [24]Education | [25]About APOD | [26]Discuss | [27]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [28]Robert Nemiroff ([29]MTU) & [30]Jerry Bonnell ([31]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [32]Specific rights apply. [33]NASA Web Privacy, [34]Accessibility, [35]Notices; A service of: [36]ASD at [37]NASA / [38]GSFC, [39]NASA Science Activation & [40]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2503/NGC772Comet_Bax_4724.jpg 3. https://www.astrobin.com/users/jeffbax/ 4. https://www.oca.eu/fr/c2pu-accueil 5. https://www.mtu.edu/physics/ 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddlehead 7. https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/hubble-spots-a-curious-spiral/ 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201203.html 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_770#/media/File:NGC_0770_SDSS.jpg 10. https://www.britannica.com/place/Aries 11. https://www.astrobin.com/gcz15v/0/ 12. https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=43P/Wolf-Harrington 13. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/ 14. https://www.reddit.com/r/aww/comments/cztlvz/precious_gang_of_two_real_cats_and_a_fake_one/#lightbox 15. https://youtu.be/bnQzW7TEtPQ 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250311.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 21. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 23. https://apod.com/feed.rss 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 26. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250312 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250313.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 29. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 30. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 31. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 33. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 34. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 35. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 36. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 37. https://www.nasa.gov/ 38. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 39. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 40. http://www.mtu.edu/